Consumer views and news since 2007 about identity theft, privacy, and corporate responsibility -- by George Jenkins

158 posts categorized "Internet Access"

Late last week, Senator Ron Wyden (Dem - Oregon) introduced a "discussion draft" of legislation to help consumers recover online privacy and control over their sensitive personal data. Senator Wyden said:

"Today’s economy is a giant vacuum for your personal information – Everything you read, everywhere you go, everything you buy and everyone you talk to is sucked up in a corporation’s database. But individual Americans know far too little about how their data is collected, how it’s used and how it’s shared... It’s time for some sunshine on this shadowy network of information sharing. My bill creates radical transparency for consumers, gives them new tools to control their information and backs it up with tough rules with real teeth to punish companies that abuse Americans’ most private information.”

"The government has failed to respond to these new threats: a) Information about consumers’ activities, including their location information and the websites they visit is tracked, sold and monetized without their knowledge by many entities; b) Corporations’ lax cybersecurity and poor oversight of commercial data-sharing partnerships has resulted in major data breaches and the misuse of Americans’ personal data; c) Consumers have no effective way to control companies’ use and sharing of their data."

With the repealed broadband privacy, ISPs are free to collect and archive as much data about consumers as desired without having to notify and get consumers' approval of the collection nor of who they share archived data with. That's 100 percent freedom for ISPs and zero freedom for consumers.

By repealing online privacy and net neutrality protections for consumers, the FCC essentially punted responsibility to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC). According to Senator Wyden's press release:

"The FTC, the nation’s main privacy and data security regulator, currently lacks the authority and resources to address and prevent threats to consumers’ privacy: 1) The FTC cannot fine first-time corporate offenders. Fines for subsequent violations of the law are tiny, and not a credible deterrent; 2) The FTC does not have the power to punish companies unless they lie to consumers about how much they protect their privacy or the companies’ harmful behavior costs consumers money; 3) The FTC does not have the power to set minimum cybersecurity standards for products that process consumer data, nor does any federal regulator; and 4) The FTC does not have enough staff, especially skilled technology experts. Currently about 50 people at the FTC police the entire technology sector and credit agencies."

This means consumers have no protections nor legal options unless the company, or website, violates its published terms-of-conditions and privacy policies. To solves the above gaps, Senator Wyden's new legislation, titled the Consumer Data Privacy Act (CDPA), contains several new and stronger protections. It:

"... allows consumers to control the sale and sharing of their data, gives the FTC the authority to be an effective cop on the beat, and will spur a new market for privacy-protecting services. The bill empowers the FTC to: i) Establish minimum privacy and cybersecurity standards; ii) Issue steep fines (up to 4% of annual revenue), on the first offense for companies and 10-20 year criminal penalties for senior executives; iii) Create a national Do Not Track system that lets consumers stop third-party companies from tracking them on the web by sharing data, selling data, or targeting advertisements based on their personal information. It permits companies to charge consumers who want to use their products and services, but don’t want their information monetized; iv) Give consumers a way to review what personal information a company has about them, learn with whom it has been shared or sold, and to challenge inaccuracies in it; v) Hire 175 more staff to police the largely unregulated market for private data; and vi) Require companies to assess the algorithms that process consumer data to examine their impact on accuracy, fairness, bias, discrimination, privacy, and security."

Permitting companies to charge consumers who opt out of data collection and sharing is a good thing. Why? Monthly payments by consumers are leverage -- a strong incentive for companies to provide better cybersecurity.

Business as usual -- cybersecurity methods by corporate executives and government enforcement -- isn't enough. The tsunami of data breaches is an indication. During October alone:

Yahoo agreed to pay $50 million to settle charges about its data breach in 2013 where up to 3 billion accounts had their emails and other personal information stolen,

The status quo, or business as usual, is unacceptable. Executives' behavior won't change without stronger consequences like jail time, since companies perform cost-benefit analyses regarding how much to spend on cybersecurity versus the probability of breaches and fines. Opt-outs of data collection and sharing by consumers, steeper fines, and criminal penalties could change those cost-benefit calculations.

Four former chief technologists at the FCC support Senator Wyden's legislation. Gabriel Weinberg, the Chief Executive Officer of DuckDuckGo also supports it:

"Senator Wyden’s proposed consumer privacy bill creates needed privacy protections for consumers, mandating easy opt-outs from hidden tracking. By forcing companies that sell and monetize user data to be more transparent about their data practices, the bill will also empower consumers to make better-informed privacy decisions online, enabling companies like ours to compete on a more level playing field."

"... The term "automated decision system" means a computational process, including one derived from machine learning, statistics, or other data processing or artificial intelligence techniques, that makes a decision or facilitates human decision making, that impacts consumers... The term "automated decision system impact assessment" means a study evaluating an automated decision system and the automated decision system’s development process, including the design and training data of the automated decision 14 system, for impacts on accuracy, fairness, bias, discrimination, privacy, and security that includes... The term "data protection impact assessment" means a study evaluating the extent to which an information system protects the privacy and security of personal information the system processes... "

The draft legislation requires companies to perform both automated data impact assessments and data protection impact assessments; and requires the FTC to set the frequency and conditions for both. A copy of the CDPA draft is also available here (Adobe PDF; 67.7 k bytes).

This is a good start. It is important... critical... to hold accountable both corporate executives and the automated decision systems their approve and deploy. Based upon history, outsourcing has been one corporate tactic to manage liability by shifting it to providers. Good to close any loopholes now where executives could abuse artificial intelligence and related technologies to avoid responsibility.

"Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant have the highest satisfaction levels among mobile users, each with an 85% satisfaction rating, followed by Siri and Bixby at 78% and Microsoft’s Cortana at 77%... As found in other studies, virtual assistants are being used for a range of things, including looking up things on the internet (51%), listening to music (48%), getting weather information (46%) and setting a timer (35%)... Smart speaker usage varies, with 31% of Amazon device owners using their speaker at least a few times a week, Google Home owners 25% and Apple HomePod 18%."

"Only 10% of surveyed respondents were not familiar with voice-enabled products and devices. Of the 90% who were, the majority have used a voice assistant (72%). Adoption is being driven by younger consumers, households with children, and households with an income of >$100k... Despite being accessible everywhere, three out of every four consumers (74%) are using their mobile voice assistants at home..."

Consumers seem to want privacy when using voice assistants, so usage tends to occur at home and not in public places. Also:

"... the bulk of consumers have yet to graduate to more advanced activities like shopping or controlling other smart devices in the home... 50% of respondents have made a purchase using their voice assistant, and an additional 25% would consider doing so in the future. The majority of items purchased are small and quick.. Usage will continue to increase but consistency must improve for wider adoption... Some consumers see voice assistants as a privacy risk... When forced to choose, 57% of consumers said they would rather watch an ad in the middle of a TV show than listen to an ad spoken by their voice assistant..."

Consumers want control over the presentation of advertisements by voice assistants. Control options desired include skip, select, never while listening to music, only at pre-approved times, customized based upon interests, seamless integration, and match to preferred brands. 38 percent of survey respondents said that they, "don't want something 'listening in' on my life all the time."

What are your preferences with voice assistants? Any privacy concerns?

"... subpoenaed more than a dozen telecommunications trade groups, lobbying contractors and Washington advocacy organizations on Tuesday, seeking to determine whether the groups submitted millions of fraudulent public comments to sway a critical federal decision on internet regulation... The attorney general, Barbara D. Underwood, is investigating the source of more than 22 million public comments submitted to the F.C.C. during the battle over the regulations. Millions of comments were provided using temporary or duplicate email addresses, while others recycled identical phrases. Seven popular comments, repeated verbatim, accounted for millions more. The noise from the fake or orchestrated comments appears to have broadly favored the telecommunications industry..."

"In the leadup to the FCC's historic vote in December 2017 to repeal all net neutrality protections, 22 million comments were filed to the agency. But unfortunately, millions of those comments were fake. Some of the fake comment were part of sophisticated campaigns that filed fake comments using the names of real people - including journalists, Senators and dead people. The FCC did nothing to try to prevent comment stuffing and comment fraud, and even after the vote, made no attempt to help the public, journalists, policy makers actually understand what Americans actually told the FCC... This report used the 800,000 comments Kao identified as semantic standouts from form letter and fraud campaigns. These unique comments were overwhelmingly in support of keeping the 2015 Open Internet Order - in fact, 99.7% of comments opposed the repeal of net neutrality protections. This report then matched and sorted those comments to geographic areas, including the 50 states and every Congressional District..."

An investigation in 2017 by the New York State AG found that about 2 million of the comments submitted to the FCC about net neutrality "stole real Americans' identities." A follow-up investigation found that more than 9 million comments "used stolen identities."

Some of the organizations subpoenaed by the New York State AG include (links added):

"... Broadband for America, Century Strategies, and MediaBridge. Broadband for America is a coalition supported by cable and telecommunications companies; Century Strategies is a political consultancy founded by Ralph Reed, the former director of the Christian Coalition; and MediaBridge is a conservative messaging firm..."

Reportedly, the New York AG has requested information from both groups which opposed and supported net neutrality protections. The New York AG operates a website where consumers can check for fake comments submitted to the FCC. (When you check, enter your name in quotes for a more precise search. And check the street address, since many people have the same name.) I checked. You can read my valid comment submitted to the FCC.

This whole affair is another reminder of how to attack and undermine a democracy by abusing online tools. A prior post discussed how social media has been abused.

Fighting fires is difficult, dangerous work. Recently, that was made worse by an internet service provider (ISP). Ars Technica reported:

"Verizon Wireless' throttling of a fire department that uses its data services has been submitted as evidence in a lawsuit that seeks to reinstate federal net neutrality rules. "County Fire has experienced throttling by its ISP, Verizon," Santa Clara County Fire Chief Anthony Bowden wrote in a declaration. "This throttling has had a significant impact on our ability to provide emergency services. Verizon imposed these limitations despite being informed that throttling was actively impeding County Fire's ability to provide crisis-response and essential emergency services." Bowden's declaration was submitted in an addendum to a brief filed by 22 state attorneys general, the District of Columbia, Santa Clara County, Santa Clara County Central Fire Protection District, and the California Public Utilities Commission. The government agencies are seeking to overturn the recent repeal of net neutrality rules in a lawsuit they filed against the Federal Communications Commission in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit."

"Santa Clara County disputed Verizon's characterization of the problem in a press release last night. "Verizon's throttling has everything to do with net neutrality—it shows that the ISPs will act in their economic interests, even at the expense of public safety," County Counsel James Williams said on behalf of the county and fire department. "That is exactly what the Trump Administration's repeal of net neutrality allows and encourages." "

In 2017, President Trump appointed Ajit Pai, a former Verizon attorney, as Chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. Under Pai's leadership, the FCC revoked both online privacy and net neutrality protections for consumers. This gave ISPs the freedom to do as they want online while consumers lost two key freedoms: a) the freedom to control the data describing their activities online (which are collected and shared with others by ISPs), and b) freedom to use the internet bandwidth purchased as they choose.

If an ISP will throttle and abuse first-responders, think of what it will do it regular consumers. What are your opinions?

T-Mobile confirmed a data breach which impacted its customers. Last week, the mobile service provider said in a statement:

"On August 20, our cyber-security team discovered and shut down an unauthorized access to certain information, including yours, and we promptly reported it to authorities. None of your financial data (including credit card information) or social security numbers were involved, and no passwords were compromised. However, you should know that some of your personal information may have been exposed, which may have included one or more of the following: name, billing zip code, phone number, email address, account number and account type (prepaid or postpaid)."

Affected customers are being notified. The statement did not disclose the number of affected customers, exactly how criminals breached its systems, nor the specific actions T-Mobile is taking to prevent this type of breach from happening again. The lack of detail is discouraging and does not promote trust.

"... the breach affected about 3 percent of T-Mobile's 77 million customers, or 2 million people... In May, researchers detected a bug in the company's website that allowed anyone to access the personal data of customers with just a phone number. The company is waiting for regulatory approval of a proposed $26.5 billion takeover of Sprint, the fourth-largest carrier in the United States."

Not all Virtual Private Network (VPN) software is created equal. Some do a better job at protecting your privacy than others. Mashable reported that Facebook:

"... plans to remove its Onavo VPN app from the App Store after Apple warned the company that the app was in violation of its policies governing data gathering... For those blissfully unaware, Onavo sold itself as a virtual private network that people could run "to take the worry out of using smartphones and tablets." In reality, Facebook used data about users' internet activity collected by the app to inform acquisitions and product decisions. Essentially, Onavo allowed Facebook to run market research on you and your phone, 24/7. It was spyware, dressed up and neatly packaged with a Facebook-blue bow. Data gleaned from the app, notes the Wall Street Journal, reportedly played into the social media giant's decision to start building a rival to the Houseparty app. Oh, and its decision to buy WhatsApp."

Thanks Apple! We've all heard of the #FakeNews hashtag on social media. Yes, there is a #FakeVPN hashtag, too. So, buyer beware... online user beware.

The New York State Public Service Commission (NYPSC) announced on Friday that it has revoked its approval of the 2016 merger agreement between Charter Communications, Inc. and Time Warner Cable, Inc. because:

"... Charter, doing business as Spectrum has — through word and deed — made clear that it has no intention of providing the public benefits upon which the Commission's earlier [merger] approval was conditioned. In addition, the Commission directed Commission counsel to bring an enforcement action in State Supreme Court to seek additional penalties for Charter's past failures and ongoing non-compliance..."

Charter, the largest cable provider in the State, provides digital cable television, broadband internet and VoIP telephone services to more than two million subscribers in in more than 1,150 communities. It provides services to consumers in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany and four boroughs in New York City: Manhattan, Staten Island, Queens and Brooklyn. The planned expansion could have increased to five million subscribers in the state.

A unit of the Department of Public Service, the NYPSC site described its mission, "to ensure affordable, safe, secure, and reliable access to electric, gas, steam, telecommunications, and water services for New York State’s residential and business consumers, while protecting the natural environment." Its announcement listed Spectrum's failures and non-compliance:

"1. The company’s repeated failures to meet deadlines;2. Charter’s attempts to skirt obligations to serve rural communities; 3. Unsafe practices in the field; 4. Its failure to fully commit to its obligations under the 2016 merger agreement; and 5. The company’s purposeful obfuscation of its performance and compliance obligations to the Commission and its customers."

The announcement provided details:

"On Jan. 8, 2016, the Commission approved Charter’s acquisition of Time Warner. To obtain approval, Charter agreed to a number of conditions required by the Commission to advance the public interest, including delivering broadband speed upgrades to 100 Mbps statewide by the end of 2018, and 300 Mbps by the end of 2019, and building out its network to pass an additional 145,000 un-served or under-served homes and businesses in the State's less densely populated areas within four years... Despite missing every network expansion target since the merger was approved in 2016, Charter has falsely claimed in advertisements it is exceeding its commitments to the State and is on track to deliver its network expansion. This led to the NYPSC’s general counsel referring a false advertising claim to the Attorney General’s office for enforcement... By its own admission, Charter has failed to meet its commitment to expand its service network... Its failure to meet its June 18, 2018 target by more than 40 percent is only the most recent example. Rather than accept responsibility Charter has tried to pass the blame for its failure on other companies, such as utility pole owners..."

The NYPSC has already levied $3 million in fines against Charter. The latest action basically boots Charter out of the State:

"Charter is ordered to file within 60 days a plan with the Commission to ensure an orderly transition to a successor provider(s). During the transition process, Charter must continue to comply with all local franchises it holds in New York State and all obligations under the Public Service Law and the NYPSC regulations. Charter must ensure no interruption in service is experienced by customers, and, in the event that Charter does not do so, the NYPSC will take further steps..."

"In the weeks leading up to an election, rhetoric often becomes politically charged. But the fact is that Spectrum has extended the reach of our advanced broadband network to more than 86,000 New York homes and businesses since our merger agreement with the PSC. Our 11,000 diverse and locally based workers, who serve millions of customers in the state every day, remain focused on delivering faster and better broadband to more New Yorkers, as we promised..."

Now, we learn a little more about how extensive pervasive surveillance activities are at AT&T facilities to help law enforcement reach out and touch persons. Yesterday, the Intercept reported:

"The NSA considers AT&T to be one of its most trusted partners and has lauded the company’s “extreme willingness to help.” It is a collaboration that dates back decades. Little known, however, is that its scope is not restricted to AT&T’s customers. According to the NSA’s documents, it values AT&T not only because it "has access to information that transits the nation," but also because it maintains unique relationships with other phone and internet providers. The NSA exploits these relationships for surveillance purposes, commandeering AT&T’s massive infrastructure and using it as a platform to covertly tap into communications processed by other companies.”

The new report describes in detail the activities at eight AT&T facilities in major cities across the United States. Consumers who use other branded wireless service providers are also affected:

"Because of AT&T’s position as one of the U.S.’s leading telecommunications companies, it has a large network that is frequently used by other providers to transport their customers’ data. Companies that “peer” with AT&T include the American telecommunications giants Sprint, Cogent Communications, and Level 3, as well as foreign companies such as Sweden’s Telia, India’s Tata Communications, Italy’s Telecom Italia, and Germany’s Deutsche Telekom."

Content vacuumed up during the surveillance includes consumers' phone calls, text messages, e-mail messages, and internet activity. The latest report by the Intercept also described:

"The messages that the NSA had unlawfully collected were swept up using a method of surveillance known as “upstream,” which the agency still deploys for other surveillance programs authorized under both Section 702 of FISA and Executive Order 12333. The upstream method involves tapping into communications as they are passing across internet networks – precisely the kind of electronic eavesdropping that appears to have taken place at the eight locations identified by The Intercept."

Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden commented on Twitter:

This thread has some great behind-the-scenes details about how a couple reporters just managed to confirm a story people have been trying to nail since 2005: how and where @NSAGov and @ATT are tapping into America's internet communications. https://t.co/smNnMxaVB3

Weiner's original bill was considered the "gold standard" of net neutrality protections for consumers because:

"... it went beyond the FCC's 2015 net neutrality "bright line" rules by including provisions like a ban on zero-rating, a business practice that allows broadband providers like AT&T to exempt their own services from their monthly wireless data caps, while services from competitors are counted against those limits. The result is a market controlled by internet service providers like AT&T, who can shut out the competition by creating an economic disadvantage for those competitors through its wireless service plans."

"Spearheading the rushed dismantling of the promising law was Committee Chair Miguel Santiago, a routine recipient of AT&T campaign contributions. Santiago’s office failed to respond to numerous requests for comment from Motherboard and numerous other media outlets... Weiner told the San Francisco Chronicle that the AT&T fueled “evisceration” of his proposal was “decidedly unfair.” But that’s historically how AT&T, a company with an almost comical amount of control over state legislatures, tends to operate. The company has so much power in many states, it’s frequently allowed to quite literally write terrible state telecom law..."

Do you favor or oppose the proposal to give ISPs the freedom to: a) provide websites the option to give their visitors the ability to download material at a higher speed, for a fee, while providing a slower speed for other websites; b) block access to certain websites; and c) charge their customers an extra fee to gain access to certain websites?

Group

Favor

Opposed

Refused/Don't Know

National

15.5%

82.9%

1.6%

Republicans

21.0%

75.4%

3.6%

Democrats

11.0%

88.5%

0.5%

Independents

14.0%

85.9%

0.1%

Why would politicians pursue weak net neutrality bills with few protections, while constituents want those protections? They are doing the bidding of the corporate internet service providers (ISPs) at the expense of their constituents. Profits before people. These politicians promote the freedom for ISPs to do as they please while restricting consumers' freedoms to use the bandwidth they've purchased however they please.

"These California democrats will go down in history as among the worst corporate shills that have ever held elected office," said Evan Greer of net neutrality activist group Fight for the Future. "Californians should rise up and demand that at their Assembly members represent them. The actions of this committee are an attack not just on net neutrality, but on our democracy.” According to Greer, the vote passed 8-0, with Democrats joining Republicans to amend the bill."

According to C/Net, more than 24 states are considering net neutrality legislation to protect their residents:

"... New York, Connecticut, and Maryland, are also considering legislation to reinstate net neutrality rules. Oregon and Washington state have already signed their own net neutrality legislation into law. Governors in several states, including New Jersey and Montana, have signed executive orders requiring ISPs that do business with the state adhere to net neutrality principles."

So, we have AT&T (plus politicians more interested in corporate donors than their constituents, the FCC, President Trump, and probably other telecommunications companies) to thank for this mess. What do you think?

My apologies to readers for the 10-day gap in blog posts. I took a few days off to attend a high school reunion in another state. Time passes more quickly than you think. It was good to renew connections with classmates.

Speaking of connections, several telecommunications companies appear to either ignore or not know the meaning of "unlimited" for mobile internet access. 9To5mac reported:

"Not content with offering one ‘unlimited’ plan which isn’t, and a second ‘beyond unlimited’ plan which also isn’t, Verizon has now decided the solution to this is a third plan. The latest addition is called ‘above unlimited’ and, you guessed it, it’s not... The carrier has the usual get-out clause, claiming that all three plans really are unlimited, it’s just that they reserve the right to throttle your connection speed once you hit the stated, ah, limits."

Some of the mobile plans limit video to low-resolution formats. Do you prefer to watch in 2018 low-resolution video formatted to 2008 (or earlier)? I think not. Do you want your connection slowed after you reach a data download threshold? I think not.

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issued a Public Service Announcement (PSA) warning consumers and small businesses that "foreign cyber actors" have targeted their wireless routers. The May 25th PSA explained the threat:

"The actors used VPNFilter malware to target small office and home office routers. The malware is able to perform multiple functions, including possible information collection, device exploitation, and blocking network traffic... The malware targets routers produced by several manufacturers and network-attached storage devices by at least one manufacturer... VPNFilter is able to render small office and home office routers inoperable. The malware can potentially also collect information passing through the router. Detection and analysis of the malware’s network activity is complicated by its use of encryption and misattributable networks."

"... the versatile code is designed to serve as a multipurpose spy tool, and also creates a network of hijacked routers that serve as unwitting VPNs, potentially hiding the attackers' origin as they carry out other malicious activities."

The FBI's PSA advised users to, a) reboot (e.g., turn off and then back on) their routers; b) disable remote management features which attackers could take over to gain access; and c) update their routers with the latest software and security patches. For routers purchased independently, security experts advise consumers to contact the router manufacturer's tech support or customer service site.

For routers leased or purchased from an internet service providers (ISP), consumers should contact their ISP's customer service or technical department for software updates and security patches. Example: the Verizon FiOS forums site section lists the brands and models affected by the VPNfilter malware, since several manufacturers produce routers for the Verizon FiOS service.

"An analysis by Talos, the threat intelligence division for the tech giant Cisco, estimated that at least 500,000 routers in at least 54 countries had been infected by the [VPNfilter] malware... A global network of hundreds of thousands of routers is already under the control of the Sofacy Group, the Justice Department said last week. That group, which is also known as A.P.T. 28 and Fancy Bear and believed to be directed by Russia’s military intelligence agency... To disrupt the Sofacy network, the Justice Department sought and received permission to seize the web domain toknowall.com, which it said was a critical part of the malware’s “command-and-control infrastructure.” Now that the domain is under F.B.I. control, any attempts by the malware to reinfect a compromised router will be bounced to an F.B.I. server that can record the I.P. address of the affected device..."

The conveniences of wireless internet connectivity which consumers demand and enjoy, also benefits the bad guys,

The bad guys are persistent and will continue to target internet-connected devices with weak or no protection, including devices consumers fail to protect,

Wireless benefits come with a responsibility for consumers to shop wisely for internet-connected devices featuring easy, continual software updates and security patches. Otherwise, that shiny new device you recently purchased is nothing more than an expensive "brick," and

Manufacturers have a responsibility to provide consumers with easy, continual software updates and security patches for the internet-connected devices they sell.

What are your opinions of the VPNfilter malware? What has been your experience with securing your wireless home router?

Yesterday, the United States Senate approved a bipartisan resolution to preserve net neutrality rules, the set of internet protections established in 2015 which require wireless and internet service providers (ISPs) to provide customers with access to all websites, and equal access to all websites. That meant no throttling, blocking, slow-downs of selected sites, nor prioritizing internet traffic in "fast" or "slow" lanes.

"Now, on June 11, these unnecessary and harmful Internet regulations will be repealed and the bipartisan, light-touch approach that served the online world well for nearly 20 years will be restored. The Federal Trade Commission will once again be empowered to target any unfair or deceptive business practices of Internet service providers and to protect American’s broadband privacy. Armed with our strengthened transparency rule, we look forward to working closely with the FTC to safeguard a free and open Internet. On June 11, we will have a framework in place that encourages innovation and investment in our nation’s networks so that all Americans, no matter where they live, can have access to better, cheaper, and faster Internet access and the jobs, opportunities, and platform for free expression that it provides. And we will embrace a modern, forward-looking approach that will help the United States lead the world in 5G..."

"Democrats are using the Congressional Review Act to try to halt the FCC's December repeal of net neutrality. The law gives Congress 60 legislative days to undo regulations imposed by a federal agency. What's needed to roll back the FCC action are simple majorities in both the House and Senate, as well as the president's signature. Senator Ed Markey (Democrat, Massachusetts), who's leading the fight in the Senate to preserve the rules, last week filed a so-called discharge petition, a key step in this legislative effort... Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers and broadband lobbyists argue the existing rules hurt investment and will stifle innovation. They say efforts by Democrats to stop the FCC's repeal of the rules do nothing to protect consumers. All 49 Democrats in the Senate support the effort to undo the FCC's vote. One Republican, Senator Susan Collins of Maine, also supports the measure. One more Republican is needed to cross party lines to pass it."

“The Internet was free and open before 2015, when the prior FCC buckled to political pressure from the White House and imposed utility-style regulation on the Internet. And it will continue to be free and open once the Restoring Internet Freedom Order takes effect on June 11... our light-touch approach will deliver better, faster, and cheaper Internet access and more broadband competition to the American people—something that millions of consumers desperately want and something that should be a top priority. The prior Administration’s regulatory overreach took us in the opposite direction, reducing investment in broadband networks and particularly harming small Internet service providers in rural and lower-income areas..."

Tim Berners-Lee, the founder of the internet, cited three reasons why the Internet is in trouble. His number one reason: consumers had lost control of their personal information. The loss of privacy meant consumers lost control over their personal information.

"Today the United States Senate took a big step to fix the serious mess the FCC made when it rolled back net neutrality late last year. The FCC's net neutrality repeal gave broadband providers extraordinary new powers to block websites, throttle services and play favorites when it comes to online content. This put the FCC on the wrong side of history, the wrong side of the law, and the wrong side of the American people. Today’s vote is a sign that the fight for internet freedom is far from over. I’ll keep raising a ruckus to support net neutrality and I hope others will too."

Do you favor or oppose the proposal to give ISPs the freedom to: a) provide websites the option to give their visitors the ability to download material at a higher speed, for a fee, while providing a slower speed for other websites; b) block access to certain websites; and c) charge their customers an extra fee to gain access to certain websites?

Group

Favor

Opposed

Refused/Don't Know

National

15.5%

82.9%

1.6%

Republicans

21.0%

75.4%

3.6%

Democrats

11.0%

88.5%

0.5%

Independents

14.0%

85.9%

0.1%

Why did the FCC, President Trump, and most GOP politicians pursue the elimination of net neutrality protections despite consumers wishes otherwise? For the same reasons they repealed broadband privacy protections despite most consumers wanting broadband privacy. (Remember, President Trump signed the privacy-rollback legislation in April 2017.) They are doing the bidding of the corporate ISPs at the expense of consumers. Profits before people. Whenever Mr. Pai mentions a "free and open internet," he's referring to corporate ISPs and not consumers. What do you think?

What if a web browser came with ad-blocking software already built in? If that's what you seek, then the new Brave web browser is worth consideration. According to its website:

"Brave blocks ads and trackers by default so you browse faster and safer. You can add ad blocking extensions to your existing browser, but it’s complicated and they often conflict with one another because browser companies don't test them. Worse, the leading ad blockers still allow some ads and all trackers."

Other benefits of this new, open-source browser:

"Brave loads major news sites 2 to 8 times faster than Chrome and Safari on mobile. And Brave is 2 times faster than Chrome on desktop."

You can read details about speed tests at the Brave site. Reportedly, this new browser already has about 2 million users. Brave was started by Brendan Eich, creator of JavaScript programming language and former CEO of Mozilla. So, he knows what he is doing.

"... give cryptocurrency-like payment tokens to anyone using the ad-blocking web browser, a move that won't let you line your own pockets but that will make it easier to fund the websites you visit. Brave developed the Basic Attention Token (BAT) as an alternative to regular money for the payments that flow from advertiser to website publishers. Brave plans to use BAT more broadly, though, for example also sending a portion of advertising revenue to you if you're using Brave and letting you spend BAT for premium content like news articles that otherwise would be behind a subscription paywall.

Most of that is in the future, though. Today, Brave can send BAT to website publishers, YouTubers and Twitch videogame streamers, all of whom can convert that BAT into ordinary money once they're verified. You can buy BAT on your own, but Brave has given away millions of dollars' worth through a few promotions. The next phase of the plan, though, is just to automatically lavish BAT on anyone using Brave, so you won't have to fret that you missed a promotional giveaway... The BAT giveaway plan is an important new phase in Brave's effort to salvage what's good about advertising on the internet -- free access to useful or entertaining services like Facebook, Google search and YouTube -- without downsides like privacy invasion and the sorts of political manipulations that Facebook partner Cambridge Analytica tried to enable."

To summarize, Brave will use block-chain as a measurement tool; not as real money. Smart. Plus, Brave pursues a new business model where advertisers can still get paid, browser users get paid, and most importantly: consumers don't have to divulge massive amounts of sensitive, personal information in order to view content. (Facebook and Google executives: are you paying attention?) This seems like a far better balance of privacy versus tracking for advertising.

Skeptical? CNet also reported that Brave started:

"... in 2017 with an initial coin offering (ICO). Enough people were convinced of BAT's value that they funded Brave by buying $36 million worth of BAT in about 30 seconds. About 300 million of the tokens are reserved for a "user growth pool" to attract people to Brave and its BAT-based payment system for online ads. That's the source of the supply Brave plans to release to Brave users.

Today, more than 12,000 publishers have verified themselves for BAT payments, the company said. That includes more than 3,300 websites, 8,800 YouTube creators and nearly 350 people streaming video games on Amazon's Twitch site. Notable verified media sites include The Washington Post, the Guardian, and Dow Jones Media Group, a Dow Jones subsidiary that operates Barron's and MarketWatch."

"... will provide access to premium content to a limited number of users who download the Brave browser on a first-come, first-serve basis. The available content set features full access to Barrons.com or a premium MarketWatch newsletter..."

Do you use broadband internet from Verizon FiOS? Or are you considering it? The blazing speed is awesome for viewing video content online, but I found portions of the service less than awesome. Which portions? The view/pay bills section of the secure site.

After signing into the secure site recently to pay my monthly bill, the view/pay bill section of the Verizon FiOS site displayed this alert:

To browse the messages, I selected "View all messages." The site displayed messages in the following overlay window:

I found this presentation problematic. First, neither the alert nor the text displayed provide a status of the number of unread messages. Had I read any of these before? I couldn't tell. Well-designed sites provide read/unread message status. Second, the overlay window lacked dates. What? I couldn't tell which messages were new or old. Not good

Third, the presentation lacked features to print, save, or delete individual messages. The presentation also lacked a sort feature. That's not state-of-the-art. Strangely, the profile section of the site includes a slightly better presentation of messages with dates and read/unread status. So, Verizon knows how to do it, but seems to have decided not to for this site section. Why deviate? Why not simply link to the profile messages section and display all messages in the profile section?

Fourth, the first message contained important instructions about how to opt out of Verizon's data sharing programs. The full message stated:

"Your Choices to Limit Use and Sharing of Information for Marketing You have choices about Verizon's use and sharing of certain information for the purpose of marketing new services to you. Verizon offers a full range of services, such as television, telematics, high-speed internet, video, and local and long distance services.Unless you notify us as explained below, we may use or share your information beginning 30 days after the first time we notify you of this policy. Your choice will remain valid until you notify us that you wish to change it, which you have the right to do at any time. Verizon protects your information and your choices won't affect the provision of any services you currently have with us.¿Customer Proprietary Network InformationCustomer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI) is information available to us solely by virtue of our relationship with you that relates to the type, quantity, destination, technical configuration, location, and amount of use of the telecommunications and interconnected VoIP services you purchase from us, as well as related billing information.We may use and share your CPNI among our affiliates and agents to offer you services that are different from the services you currently purchase from us. If you don't want us to use or share your CPNI with our affiliates and agents for this purpose, let us know by calling us any time at 1.866.483.9700.¿Information about Your CreditInformation about your credit includes your credit score, the information found in your consumer reports and your account history with us. We may share this information among the Verizon family of companies for the purpose of marketing new services to you. If you don't want us to share this information among the Verizon family of companies for the purpose of marketing new services to you, let us know by calling us any time at 1.844.366.2879."

If you like online privacy, then opting out of these programs is wise. Regular readers of this blog are familiar with CPNI disclosures from AT&T, and how much that information describes about the specific telecommunications services you use and your associated spending. The failure to display a date makes it impossible for consumers to determine whether or not the 30-day deadline has passed (and Verizon FiOS has already begun sharing customers' information). Not good.

Note: the program default automatically includes customers in Verizon's data-sharing programs after 30 days. A better default would be to not include all customers, and then only include customers who opt in or register. Is this lazy or slick marketing? Probably a little of both since most consumers fail to read legal messages.

Fifth, what's with the funky syntax (e.g., upside-down question marks)? This is English, not Spanish. Sixth, the message presented information as a "wall of words" without paragraph breaks, imagery, or other mechanisms to improve readability. There should be paragraph breaks before both "CreditInformation" and "Customer Proprietary Network Information" -- two critical concepts requiring customers' attention.

Seventh, the opt-out mechanism includes two different phone numbers to fully opt out of the data-sharing programs. Why the complexity? Come on, Verizon. You can do better. You are the phone company. Is a single phone number too difficult? Why put your customers through this hassle? Even worse: the site fails to provide an online opt-out mechanism. What's up with that?

Come on Verizon! You can do better. This poor message display and cumbersome opt-out mechanism makes it easier for Comcast Xfinity. Is that really what you want to do? I think not. Hopefully, FiOS customers will hear from Verizon in the comments section below. If they write to me separately, I'll post that response.

To me, the unnecessary (and avoidable) complexity seems like slick attempts to discourage customers from opting out of the data-sharing programs. What do you think?

"When the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled, in September 2016, that the Federal Trade Commission did not have the authority to regulate AT&T because it was a “common carrier,” which only the Federal Communications Commission can regulate, the decision created what many in privacy foresaw as a “regulatory doughnut hole.” Indeed, when the FCC, in repealing its broadband privacy rules, decided to hand over all privacy regulation of internet service providers to the FTC, the predicted situation came about: The courts said “common carriers” could only be regulated by the FCC, but the FCC says only the FTC should be regulating privacy. So, was there no regulator to oversee a company like AT&T’s privacy practices?

Indeed, argued Gigi Sohn, formerly counsel to then-FCC Chair Tom Wheeler, “The new FCC/FTC relationship lets consumers know they’re getting screwed. But much beyond that, they don’t have any recourse.” Now, things have changed once again. With an en banc decision, the 9th Circuit has reversed itself... This reversal of its previous decision by the 9th Circuit now allows the FTC to go forward with its case against AT&T and what it says were deceptive throttling practices, but it also now allows the FTC to once again regulate internet service providers’ data-handling and cybersecurity practices if they come in the context of activities that are outside their activities as common carriers."

"No touch" is probably a more accurate description. A prior blog post listed many historical problems and abuses of consumers by some ISPs. Consumers should buckle up, as ISPs slowly unveiled their plans in a world without net neutrality protections for consumers. What might that look like? What has AT&T said about this?

"Net neutrality has been an emotional issue for a lot of people over the past 10 years... For much of those 10 years, there has been relative agreement over what those rules should be: don’t block websites; censor online content; or throttle, degrade or discriminate in network performance based on content; and disclose to consumers how you manage your network to make that happen. AT&T has been publicly committed to those principles... But no discussion of net neutrality would be complete without also addressing the topic of paid prioritization. Let me start by saying that the issue of paid prioritization has always been hazy and theoretical. The business models for services that would require end-to-end management have only recently begun to come into focus... Let me clear about this – AT&T is not interested in creating fast lanes and slow lanes on anyone’s internet."

"AT&T is talking up the benefits of paid prioritization schemes in preparation for the death of net neutrality rules while claiming that charging certain content providers for priority access won't create fast lanes and slow lanes... What Quinn did not mention is that the net neutrality rules have a specific carve-out that already allows such services to exist... without violating the paid prioritization ban. Telemedicine, automobile telematics, and school-related applications and content are among the services that can be given isolated capacity... The key is that the FCC maintained the right to stop ISPs from using this exception to violate the spirit of the net neutrality rules... In contrast, AT&T wants total control over which services are allowed to get priority."

Moreover, fast and slow lanes by AT&T already exist:

"... AT&T provides only DSL service in many rural areas, with speeds of just a few megabits per second or even less than a megabit. AT&T has a new fixed wireless service for some rural areas, but the 10Mbps download speeds fall well short of the federal broadband standard of 25Mbps. In areas where AT&T has brought fiber to each home, the company might be able to implement paid prioritization and manage its network in a way that prevents most customers from noticing any slowdown in other services..."

So, rural (e.g., DSL) consumers are more likely to suffer and notice service slowdowns. Once the final FCC rules are available without net neutrality protections for consumers and the lawsuits have been resolved, then AT&T probably won't have to worry about violating any prioritization bans.

The bottom line for consumers: expect ISPs to implement first changes consumers won't see directly. Remember the old story about a frog stuck in a pot of water? The way to kill it is to slowly turn up the heat. You can expect ISPs to implement this approach in a post-net-neutrality world. (Yes, in this analogy we consumers are the frog, and the heat is higher internet prices.) Paid prioritization is one method consumers won't directly see. It forces content producers, and not ISPs, to raise prices on consumers. Make no mistake about where the money will go.

Consumers will likely see ISPs introduce tiered broadband services, with lower-priced service options that exclude video streaming content... spun as greater choice for consumers. (Some hotels in the United States already sell to their guests WiFi services with tiered content.) Also, expect to see more "sponsored data programs," where video content owned by your ISP doesn't count against wireless data caps. Read more about other possible changes.

Seems to me the 9th Circuit Appeals Court made the best of a bad situation. I look forward to the FTC doing an important job which the FCC chose to run away from. What do you think?

"1. Escape Advertising Tracker Networks: Our Privacy Protection will block all the hidden trackers we can find, exposing the major advertising networks tracking you over time, so that you can track who's trying to track you. 2. Increase Encryption Protection: We force sites to use an encrypted connection where available, protecting your data from prying eyes, like internet service providers (ISPs). 3. Search Privately: You share your most personal information with your search engine, like your financial, medical, and political questions. What you search for is your own business, which is why DuckDuckGo search doesn't track you. Ever. 4. Decode Privacy Policies — We’ve partnered with Terms of Service Didn't Read to include their scores and labels of website terms of service and privacy policies, where available."

The new browser app is available in both the iTunes and Google Play stores. The iPhone and iPad versions requires iOS version 9.0 or later. How it provides more privacy online:

"As you search and browse, the DuckDuckGo Privacy Browser shows you a Privacy Grade rating when you visit a website (A-F). This rating lets you see how protected you are at a glance, dig into the details to see who we caught trying to track you, and learn how we enhanced the underlying site's privacy measures. The Privacy Grade is scored automatically based on the prevalence of hidden tracker networks, encryption availability, and website privacy practices.

Our app provides standard browsing functionality including tabs, bookmarks, and autocomplete. In addition to strong Privacy Protection as described above, we also packed in some extra privacy features into the browser itself: a) Fire Button — Clear all your tabs and data with one tap; b) Application Lock: Secure the app with Touch ID or Face ID."

The Privacy Grade ratings reminds me of the warnings provided by the Privacy Badger add-on, which alerts consumers to the tracking mechanisms used by sites, and provides consumers finer control about which mechanisms to enable or disable at each site.

If you haven't seen it, there is a Whopper Neutrality ad online by Burger King, explains net neutrality in a very easy-to-understand way. Blog post continues after the video:

A November, 2017 poll found that 52 percent of registered voters supported the current rules, including 55 percent of Democrats and 53 percent of Republicans. After that poll, the Commissioners at the FCC voted to killed net neutrality protections for consumers.

Some have questions whether the ad is sincere support of an issue consumers care about, or slick corporate advertising which capitalize on a hot topic. I like the ad. Anything that helps more consumers understand the issue, and what we've lost, is a good thing.

Another view of the ad by The Young Turks. Share your opinions below after the video:

"Managers, supervisors, and direct sales people in Chicago, Florida, and other parts of Comcast’s Central region, mostly in the Midwest and Southeastern United States, were terminated around Dec. 15... More than 500 sales employees were terminated, company sources said... Comcast has not reorganized the direct sales forces and approach in the company’s two other big divisions, which include Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. Comcast/NBCUniversal employs about 159,000.

In late December, Comcast announced that it would hand out $1,000 bonuses to full-time employees, in response to the Trump tax cut that will slash its corporate tax rate. The fired employees will be eligible for a “$1,000 supplemental severance payment,” Comcast said... Comcast direct sales employees earned $50,000 to $100,000 through a low base salary and commissions, the terminated employee said. The commissions ranged between roughly $75 for a new Internet Plus customer to $350 for a new customer who ordered a triple-play package with home security, the former employee said. Internet Plus is a package of television and broadband services..."

Context matters. Earlier this week, Vox reported in December before the tax bill was passed:

"... the prospect for a deal on tax reform looking promising, lobbying reached a pinnacle this year, with 2,065 groups pushing their cause, according to reports published by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. The efforts are employing more than 6,000 lobbyists, the nonpartisan Public Citizen counted. The four organizations that reported the most lobbying activity on tax issues so far this year are Fortune 500 companies with a huge stake in the outcome: Comcast, Microsoft, Altria Group (formerly Philip Morris), and NextEra Energy."

"We commend Chairman Pai for his leadership and FCC Commissioners O’Reilly and Carr for their support in adopting the Restoring Internet Freedom Order, returning to a regulatory environment that allowed the Internet to thrive for decades by eliminating burdensome Title II regulations and opening the door for increased investment and digital innovation. Today’s action does not mark the ‘end of the Internet as we know it;’ rather it heralds in a new era of light regulation that will benefit consumers."

"... Comcast gave us this statement but offered no further details: "Periodically, we reorganize groups of employees and adjust our sales tactics and talent. This change in the Central Division is an example of this practice and occurred in the context of our adding hundreds of frontline and sales employees. All these employees were offered generous severance and an opportunity to apply for other jobs at Comcast." "

"The firings happened around December 15. On December 20, Comcast announced that, because of the pending tax cut and recent repeal of net neutrality rules, it would give "special bonuses" of $1,000 to more than 100,000 employees and invest more than $50 billion in infrastructure over the next five years. "With these investments, we expect to add thousands of new direct and indirect jobs," Comcast said at the time.

We examined Comcast's investment claims in an article on December 21. As it turns out, Comcast's annual investments already soared during the two-plus years that net neutrality rules were on the books, and the $50 billion amount could be achieved if those investments simply continued increasing by a modest amount."

The investment claims, by ISPs and advocates of repealing net neutrality rules, were bogus,

Voters either didn't pay attention or were duped by claims that net neutrality rules killed investments by telecoms,

Voters were duped during the 2016 election into believing claims that tax cuts would create jobs,

Voters accepted these job-creation promises without demanding any guarantees, and

Tax cuts are being used to reward employees and managers with bigger bonuses.

The bigger bonuses are great, if you have a job. Regardless, we now see the results: tax cuts help companies and fewer jobs hurt workers. Repeal of net neutrality rules will hurt public libraries, the poor, and disabled persons. And, there's more to come as ISPs roll out their revised broadband services (with higher prices) without net neutrality rules.

"A Senate bill that would reverse the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) decision to repeal net neutrality received its 30th co-sponsor on Monday, ensuring it will receive a vote on the Senate floor. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) announced her support for the bill on Twitter, putting it over the top of a procedural requirement to bypass committee approval.

The bill, which is being pushed by Senator Ed Markey (D-Mass.), would use Congress’s authority under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to reverse the FCC’s rollback of its popular net neutrality rules... Under the CRA, if a joint resolution of disapproval bill has enough support it can bypass committee review and be fast-tracked to a floor vote... Lawmakers have 60 legislative days after the FCC submits its regulations to Congress to pass the CRA. The repeal order is currently awaiting approval from the Office of Management and Budget.

With Republicans in control of both the House and Senate, the bill faces long odds to win the simple majorities it needs to reach the president’s desk."

On Sunday, December 17, 2017, WERS Radio (88.9 FM), a college radio station in Boston, broadcast on Sunday an interview about net neutrality. The persons interviewed included myself and Nina Vyedin, of Indivisible Somerville.